My front brake lever seems to loosing stiffness over time. Which eventually leads to the brake light staying on. If I then pump the lever it will pressurize and the light will shut off. But if the bike sits or heavy front braking pressure is applied it will do it again. Iv tried bleeding the system with no results. Also when I try to bleed it it doesn't seem like much fluid comes out of bleeder. Also the lever constantly has some play to it causing rattling from the vibration. Any ideas?

 

You will probably get better info if you start with some info on your bike, like year, model, mileage.

 

sounds to me like you have 2 issues, first the from master cylinder prolly needs to taken apart and cleaned and prolly rebuilt (loss of pressure) the second is the brake light switch is prolly broken as it seems to me that it is working backwards, i.e., lack of pressure should turn it off not on...

 

Since the OP just joined the forum last month, for all we know, this may be a 1 month old (new) bike that's under warranty.

We also need to know if any work has been done recently on or around the handlebars, which may have resulted in a broken brake light switch.

 

It is a 2001 sportster 1200c. Once the lever is pulled it it releases pressure off of the brake switch which when the pressure is removed turns on the light. If I take out the brake lever the light stays on. You push the switch in and it shuts off. Also there has been no recent work up on the handle bars

 

Have you actually flushed entirely new fluid through, to replace all the old stuff? We have a couple of helpful Stickies in the Tech Brakes section, which should help you solve that problem.

 

I was gunna try all new fluid like you suggested but it seems when I'm bleeding it that maybe a couple drops of fluid will come out of the bleeder screw and that's it. Just to empty the master I would be bleeding it for hours.

 

Do read those Stickies! Although there are many instruments of torture available for bleeding brakes, you should be getting more out than you describe. Suggests all is not well and you may have to do some surgery, like overhauling the master cylinder. You can buy a kit of service parts that replaces all the perishable parts inside it.

 

ahhh, I misunderstood what you were saying about brake pressure, I thought you meant at the caliper..so you can disregard what I wrote about the switch working backwards..Now I think I understand the front brake lever is not returning when you let go of the lever....still I say you need to bleed the brakes and prolly rebuild/replace the master cylinder..or at least take it apart and clean any gunk out of it....make sure you are using the proper brake fluid, which type is written on the cap of the master cylinder...

 

That's exactly what's happening. If I pump it it will gain more and more pressure till it snaps back but will just go away when it sits or if I brake heavily. Also it calls for dot 5 so that's what iv been using lol